1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the field of computer systems and, in particular, to a method and apparatus for setting the operating parameters of a computer system.
2. Background Information
Computer system manufacturers have long relied on configuration selectors, e.g., jumper block assemblies, dip switches, and the like, to configure a number of operational parameters of a computer system. Examples of such operating parameters configured with a plurality of configuration selectors include the bus/core ratio, the processor clock speed, the speaker select (internal/external), the mode of operation (normal/update), password enable/disable, setup enable/disable and a number of extended system configuration parameters maintained in a complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) memory device.
Those skilled in the art will recognize that the use of configuration selectors, while enabling a printed circuit board assembly to be configured to serve different needs, adds to the cost of the printed circuit board assembly in terms of component cost for the configuration selectors, and also by consuming valuable real-estate on the printed circuit board assembly. That is to say, many of the printed circuit board assemblies employed by such prior art computer systems are laden with costly and space consuming configuration selectors to set each of the foregoing operating parameters. Thus, it would be desirable to eliminate as many of the costly and space consuming configuration selectors as possible along with the human induced configuration errors of the configuration selectors, without reducing the functionality and configurability of the printed circuit board.
Thus a need exists for a method and apparatus for setting the operating parameters of a computer system, unencumbered by the limitations associated with the prior art.